What a pipit!

I was seawatching from the dunes this morning when a message came through on the Whatsapp group to say that Tariq Farooqi was watching one, maybe two Water Pipits from the Budge hide. Seawatching had been quiet so I headed straight there, Tariq was still there but wasn't seeing the birds. Shortly after I got there, a pipit flew - calling, like a water pipit. We got onto it just in front of the hide and watched it for a few minutes before all hell-broke loose when a Sparrowhawk arrived and scattered everything before flying off with a Starling. 

Yesterday, Janet and I were at the timber screen when I heard a pipit calling and I said 'that sounds like Water Pipit'  - we never saw it, then the hailstones came down and we headed home - probably was!

Water Pipit is my 177th species for the year on the patch and my first on the patch since March 2018. They became reasonably common for a couple of years on the Budge fields and then nothing...

I've done a couple of seawatches this weekend - both were pretty quiet. Today a couple of Great Northern Divers went north as did 26 Red-throats including a group of 15! Two Velvet Scoters were with the scoter flock and two flew north and there was a good count of 124 Sanderling on the beach. Two Great Northern Divers went through yesterday too, one in each direction.

No photos this week, it's been too dark!

The vocal Chiffchaff was still calling by the wooden screen this morning and through the week. A December Chiffchaff is always nice. 

Winter birding

The last of the Blackbirds from the huge invasion earlier in the month are hanging on, making their way through the remaining Hawthorn berries are the last remnant of Autumn. Otherwise it feels like winter. 

Wintering duck numbers have started to build up on the Budge fields, with Wigeon numbering about 160 but there's fewer Teal. The big pools is virtually bereft of life, I've not seen one, but I fancy there's an Otter about which will deter wildfowl from settling.

Elsewhere on the patch the 'front field' at Druridge Farm is attracting big flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover with a maximum of 560 and 320 respectively this week. Scanning through plover flocks - proper winter birding. 

Some of the Golden Plover flock this morning

I took Thursday off work on the strength of a strengthening northerly wind which ended up as a bit of a damp squib - it came from the right place, just not for long enough. Me decision paid-off though as my flexi-day-off meant I could go to Amble to see the (American) Buff-bellied Pipit that was found the previous day. Janet and I joined a few hardy-souls at first light and after an hour or so of searching, the bird was re-found on the beach giving the assembled (socially-distant) twitchers good views. A new bird for Northumberland and the Western Palearctic for me.

Heavily-cropped shot of the Buff-bellied Pipit

Female-type Stonechat at Amble

Rock Pipit

I did go seawatching in the afternoon from 1pm to dusk. A Black-throated Diver headed north was new for the year (176), other highlights were two Velvet Scoter north and a lovely Sooty Shearwater, really close in nice light, through the breakers, before heading off north. There was decent auk passage, a few Gannets and Kittiwakes including a single flock of 37 of the latter. Full list here.

Seawatching was quiet so I was distracted by these horses

Janet and I walked the length of the patch and back on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Highlights include a Snow Bunting over, 110 Twite in the dunes (they were on the beach on Friday when it was quieter), Great-spotted Woodpecker and a late Chiffchaff which was calling like mad in the bushes - a nice reminder of Autumn.

Black-headed Gull on the sea today

Guillemot on the sea

Red-throated Loon on the sea

I'm changing my work regime from tomorrow to make better us of the daylight hours so my weekday patch visits will be at lunchtime until February. 

Some more winter birds from this week...

male Stonechat

Wren

Rained-off

The forecast today was for rain from about 9am. For once it was bang-on. 

Janet and I walked the length of the patch and got back tot he car 09.22  - just as the heavens opened. About 750 Pink-footed Geese took off from the Budge Field just before we got to the hide, presumably they'd roosted there overnight? Otherwise there wasn't much of note on our walk, three Chiffchaffs were calling and there were two male Greenfinches by the turning circle - so different to three greenies I had last week. 

The finch flock was mostly in flight and easily exceeded 250 birds, including at least 12 Lesser Redpolls and a handful of Reed Buntings (Yes I know - they're not finches).

We also had interesting bird overhead. We heard it from some way off giving a pipit/wagtail type call but loud and explosive. The calls were all single calls, well-spaced, apart from once where it gave a double 'duit-tcheck' type call, then continued south giving single 'duit' calls. I've had a listen to Xeno-canto this morning and the nearest match is Richard's Pipit - a species I've no recent (and no UK) experience of. Nothing to submit but interesting... When I hear it again, I'll know what it is .

Yesterday morning I tried a two-hour seawatch over the high tide (0950-1150), after a short spell of northerly winds it could be good (I thought). 

Gannets and Auks dominated, I estimated about 30-40/minute of each. The Auks were probably 90%+ Guillemot with the remainder Razorbills, no little'uns yet.

A typical sight for most of the morning, strings of Gannets headed north, some of them very close to the shore

Other highlights were:

Sooty Shearwater 2N

Velvet Scoter 2 Drakes N (together with a teal in tow)

Sandwich Tern 1N

Shag 2

Red-throated Diver 22 on the sea and 8N

Wigeon 13N

Purple Sandpiper 1N

Turnstone 5N

Slavonian Grebe 1 (with Scoter Flock)

Common Scoter 115 (c90 on the sea with 25 past)

Full list here

Gannets headed north  - I've had a go at ageing them below.

Gannets are long-lived birds with an average life-expectancy of 17 years, the oldest record Gannet was 37 year old. Gannets can be aged by their plumaged up to about their 6th year when they are 'adults'   -but it isn't always clear-cut.

Working from left to right:

Bird 1 - An adult (so more than five years old) - the secondaries are all white

Bird 2 - Probably 4th year - Quite a few black secondaries (like piano keys) and tail feathers

Bird 3 - Good contrast with Bird 2 - hardly any black secondaries so I would say 5th year

Bird 4 - All Dark with a lighter tailed band and some white 'sprinkles'  - Juvenile bird

Bird 5 - Many more black secondaries but with a yellowish head and more white on the neck and back - probably a 3rd year. 

Birds 6 and 7 are both juveniles

Seawatching and some thoughts on it.

With strong northerlies forecast overnight and early morning I suspected I might be seawatching today especially as I had the day off work. When I woke at 6am it was lashing it down with rain, I turned over and went back to sleep, If I'd had to go to work, I would've got up and gone anyway but I had the luxury of more time.

I eventually arrived at my dune watchpoint at 9am, it was too windy to stand on the dune ridge so I hunkered down in the dunes on a useful perch as I could be sometime.

The first bird I saw was a Bonxie, close in too. There wasn't a lot of action until pretty much the second notable bird I got onto was a skua,  a bit further out than the Bonxie, quite distant. A grey bird against the sea with a more languid tern-like flight - Juvenile Long-tailed Skua! My fifth of the year incredibly. 

It was steady after that, Manx Shearwaters coming through in little groups or singles and a few Sooty Shearwaters including a single group of six together about half-way out. There were a few distant Skuas that went unidentified - that's one of the problems with Druridge but a couple Arctic skuas were closer and one came into the bay to harass terns and a couple more Bonxies came through. A drake Velvet Scoter came in very close, north,  on its own and a group of ten Pale-Bellied Brent were also really close.

By 9.45am I was regretting not getting up earlier, the sky brightened and the sun even threatened to come out and the sea went 'silvery' - not good, anything more than half way out was unidentifiable. I was temped to pack up but visibility improved a bit as a cloud came over so I hung on. I was pleased that I did as the bird of the day, and one of my best seawatching experiences at Druridge happened soon after. 

A bird flew north, close-in and therefore low in my scope-view, so it passed through quickly, but it looked interesting and I tried tracking it through the troughs in the breakers, a shearwater, pale on the undersides but 'dumpy looking'. It was flying really slowly, moving back and forth, passing over and through the scoter flock, looking like it was feeding amongst them. It wasn't a Sooty, it had a pale belly anyway but the jizz was altogether wrong and it didn't have the contrast dark/white of a Manx and it just didn't look right.I was sure it was Balearic Shearwater. It landed among the Scoters briefly, before making a short flight and landing again, it did this three or four times, only landing for a few seconds before taking another short flight.These short flights gave good views when it wasn't in a trough and the dusky underwing, darker 'armpits' and dumpy appearance confirmed my initial ID. Eventually it moved off north, slowly again, feeding as it went. In hindsight I probably could have had a record shot of it, but I was too busy 'enjoying the bird'. This was my fifth Balearic at Druridge but by far the best views I've had of one here and my first since I saw two on 5th September 2013.

By 10:40, the light had really gone. I kept going until 11:05 to get the two-hours in and saw a few more birds including some Teal and a Golden Plover picked up on call just over the breakers, but it was high-tide. 

It was interesting to compare my figures with  headland watchpoints to the north and south of me. Obviously being in the middle of a bay I miss out on birds but I seem to miss out on some species more than others, Bonxies are a good example. I saw five in two hours today, Mark Eaton had 13 at Boulmer, Jack Bucknall had 13 (3 1/2 hours) at St. Mary's and Ben Steel had 19 in two and a half hours at Howick. 

I think powerful birds like Bonxies and to some degree Poms (I didn't see one today) don't drift into the Bay, they just take a straight line from Snab Point to Coquet Island so are too distant for me. I do better for Arctics than some headlands because the terns feeding in the bay draw them in and largely comparable for Long-tailed Skuas which seem to hug the coast more, or even curt off headlands (I've seen them do this at Church Point). Likewise, I do okay for Manx (and today for Balearic) shearwaters but struggle with the bigger Shears, with only one Cory's (in 2005) and no Great Shears ever. 

Despite the disadvantages of being in a bay, I'd swap a dozen of any of those species at Church Point for jut one on the patch. Above all, I love a good seawatch!

Highlights 09:05-11:05 (all N) (Full list here)

Pale-bellied Brent 12 (10N 2S)

Teal 56

Velvet Scoter 1 (drake)

Bonxie 5

Arctic Skua 4

Skua sp 6

Long-tailed Skua 1 (juv)

Golden Plover 1

Sooty Shearwater 11 

Manx Shearwater 24+

Balearic Shearwater 1

Two photos taken as I was packing up.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

and juvenile

Fog Blog

This weekend has been dominated by fog. Saturday started wet but the fog never really lifted all day, Sunday was brighter, it was grey and wet at first but it brightened up at times. The wind was light from the North East.

Why don't we get weekends like this in September?

It took us until after 3pm to get down to Druridge on Saturday, the wet start delaying our departure. Janet joined me and we had a wander around the patch looking for migrants - we didn't see many migrant birds but we did see lots of migrant hoverflies. All of a sudden, the cow parsley and buttercups were lifting with hovers  - a huge arrival. Spurn reported thousands and an observer on a North Sea oil rig had hundreds on his rig.

I'll do a separate hover blog later in the week when they've been identified.

It was a damp fog on Saturday and the light was awful so I left the SLR behind, which I regret as the there were so many hovers as well as this nice fresh ringlet butterfly which sat out well.

Ringlet

On the Budge fields, an little-ringed plover and a ringed-plover were on the mud and a whimbrel flew over with curlew - that was the highlights.

The avocet pair on the Budge fields still have their three chicks - a new breeding record for the reserves. It's been a funny year for breeding birds on the patch and I'm not sure why:

Avocet - new breeding record for the reserves

Bullfinch -  female with a brood patch caught last week and a pair present today - my first records outside of the October-February period other than a single August record

Coal Tit - normally a autumn and winter species only. I watched a pair taking food into the plantation today  - my first breeding record on the reserves

Lesser whitethroat - used to breed on the wider patch around High Chibburn but never in the bushes on the reserve - female caught with brood patch

and today a spotted flycatcher fly-catching by the entrance - either a very late migrant or maybe a breeding bird?

This morning I spent five and a half hours on the patch form 7am.  I was birding first thing then looking at insects and bugs. I've already mentioned the spotted flycatcher, coal tits and bullfinches. One, maybe two barn owls were hunting and lots of warblers had fledged youths with them including family parties of blackcap, whitethroat (x2) and sedge warbler.

Offshore a flock of 400-500 common scoter was out in the bay, I grilled them for surf scoter without any joy but did turn up at least two drake velvet scoters. Roseate terns were feeding amongst them.

I took the macro lens for a walk along the track to the hides - I only got about half-way, there was so much to see.

Tree Bumble Bee - Bombus hypnorum 

Odynerus spinipes - Shiny Mason Wasp

Not sure what this nest-like construction is

Early Bumble Bee - Bombus pratorum

Common Blue butterfly from above 

and the underside

Blue-tailed damselfly - Ischnura elegans 

This is Picromerus bidens Spiked Shieldbug (final instar nymph) with a caterpillar for consumption later. I think the  caterpillar is that of Autumnal rustic Eugnorisma glareosa

Common Scorpion Fly  - Panorpa communis

An unidentified spider dismantles an unidentified prey item

Not sure about this wasp yet. 

Stay tuned for some hover action later in the week!

Two things are guaranteed...

Two things are usually guaranteed on New Years Day on the patch:

1) I will see a species that I didn't see in the previous year. Over the years this list has included merlin, peregrine and slavonian grebe amongst others. This year it was pochard.

Two drake pochards heading south

I half-expected it to be long-tailed duck as one was reported on New Years Eve and it was LTD I was looking for when I saw the two drake pochards on the big pool.

2) Some mentalists will be in the sea

Brrrrr

At least this girl kept her bikini top on, the two in 2018 didn't!

New Years Day was beautiful day and Janet and I had a good wander around the patch, taking in the big pool, Budge fields, bushes, sea and dunes to the north and saw 56 species - not a bad start to the year list. Other than the two pochards, other highlights were two velvet scoters flying south offshore, 60 twite in the dunes, a goldcrest (very rare in winter), a pair of pintail, a kestrel (first since July!), 250 golden plover and two of the four ruff from last week. We scanned through the pink-footed geese in the front field but couldn't find the white-fronts.

Busier than a summer day

By the time we headed home just before 2pm, the place was rammed, everyone and their dog(s) had descended on Druridge Bay. When we left, we had to queue to get out because people had parked on both sides of the road, leaving no room for cars to pass. It was like August Bank Holiday Monday!

Link to eBird list for NYD

Today was colder with a stiff breeze from the SW. I quickly checked through the geese (still no white-fronts) and the Budge fields where the four ruff had returned and had been joined by a dunlin. I also added blue tit and shelduck to the year list

List from today

They came from the north

They came from the north... No, not the birds, the birdwatchers.

I gave a talk about my Druridge patch to the north Northumberland Bird Club the other week and they were so impressed (with the patch, not me) that they decided they would make it the next destination for one of their field outings.  When they told me they were coming, I volunteered to show them around.

They arrived yesterday morning - ten of them. Despite the forecast, the morning started off dry and quite calm. I showed them the plantation and the bushes by the entrance where we picked up our first chiffchaffs of the morning with goldcrests and a flock of long-tailed tits. We then headed north along the road. I got quite excited by a fly-over mistle thrush (year tick) and I explained that this one of the great things about patch birding - common species like mistle thrush, collared dove or treecreeper are exciting finds. A great-spotted woodpecker followed the mistler.

A tractor and trailer, full of shooters, passed us, turned around at the turning circle before heading back towards the farm. As we got to the Budge screen and started to admire the large flock (300+) of teal, they arrived in the fields beyond and started shooting pheasants. Up went the teal with most of them heading off to find a quieter pond. I still don't understand how anyone can call pheasant shooting 'sport'..  With nothing much of note on the fields, we continued north towards the path to the Oddie hide. I explained the various habitats on the patch as we went.

Photo: Margaret G

At the start of the path, near the information panel, there were a couple of chiffs associating with a tit flock before they all went mental when a male sparrowhawk shot through.

There was a handful of tufted duck on the big pool and a juvenile great-crested grebe was noteworthy. As we returned back along the path the first raindrops fell. We paused briefly when I thought I heard a yellow-browed warbler but couldn't locate it. By the time we got to the road it was raining heavily and we took the collective decision to call it a day and head back to the cars.

We saw 50 species in just over two hours which isn't bad considering we've had a week of westerly winds. The full list is here.

With strong northerlies overnight and the first little auks being reported from Tyneside, I decided to try a seawatch this morning. It didn't look promising with squally showers making for poor visibility. Thankfully most of the birds were close-in, especially the gannets. I did an hour and failed to find a little auk amongst the passing guillies. Highlights included a drake scaup, seven goosanders, great northern diver, two red-throated divers and four velvet scoters. Full list here

Grim 

A surprise catch

We were ringing birds at Druridge this morning.  It was the same day as the North-East Skinny Dip at the Country Park and we had the dippers 'on call' as we put our nets up and they went into to the sea - It must have been cold as the calls were all high-pitched!

On a day dominated by tits, we were very surprised to catch this in one of our mist nets.

Adult female barn owl

Janet and I were extracting a robin when we heard a bird, which sounded like a woodpigeon, crashing through the bushes behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird hit the net a bit further along from where we stood, expecting it to be a woodpigeon, I was very surprised to see a barn owl in the net! It was quickly extracted and taken back to the car to be ringed.

Sasha the trainee with the barn owl

It was an adult (probably in it's third calendar year) and a female - you can tell this from the dark spots on the breast and flanks (this one is very spotty - they are variable). We've caught a few long-eared owls in mist nets at Druridge but never a barn owl.

Between 0630 and midday, we caught 33 birds, mostly tits, including a blue tit which we ringed as juvenile in September 2014, canny for a blue tit. We also controlled (caught a bird that had been ringed elsewhere) a robin and a blue tit. The blue tit will probably be local, but it will be interesting to see where the robin has come from.

Controlled Robin

We also caught our first goldcrest of the autumn, chiffchaff, whitethroat, blackcap, dunnock, and reed bunting.

Common Whitethroat

Between about 8 and 10 am there was steady stream of skylarks headed south but only single figures of meadow pipits. This kestrel was feeding nearby but I only managed to get 'arse-on' shots of it.

Kestrel - arse-on

I went back down to the patch in the evening, prompted by some seawatching reports from elsewhere in the county. I arrived at 6pm and stayed until just before 7, leaving in time to catch The Archers on Radio 4. Seawatching totals from 1800-1850 were (all north)

Manx Shearwater 41
Pomarine Skua 1 adult
Velvet scoter 1 drake
Sooty Shearwater 3
Red-breasted Merganser 5 (south)
Sandwich tern 3
Wigeon 3
Gannet 200+
Shag 1
Cormorant 3
Guillemot 3

and 7 red-throated diver on the sea

By the time I left there were upwards of 3000 gulls on the beach between Druridge and Chibburn Mouth, mostly common and black-headed.

Just waiting for some easterlies now...

A few new January birds

I've been down to the patch a couple of times post. No photos though, it's just been too dull.

I had a nice dusk visit on 20th, it was nearly dark when I left at 16.15. Highlights were two ruff and eight dunlin on the Budge fields and flock of about 15 fieldfare flying over and into the bushes, quite often a species I have to wait until autumn for.

Standing at the Budge screen, I heard a water pipit calling, but I couldn't find it, I think it was overhead. There were also three drake pintail still present.

On Sunday, I took look one look at the number of people at the Budge screen and gave it a dodge. I had a quick look offshore, but it was very quiet other than a flock of about 40 scoters flying south which included five velvet scoters!

This morning was quite warm, but the strong southerly wind and overcast skies made it feel colder. And there very few people about - which is good.

There are still plenty geese about though. The majority, a flock of over 3000 pink-feet, were over by Low Chibburn somewhere - they lifted and settled gain after a light aircraft flew over. A smaller group of about 350 came down into the fields west of the Budge - there were at least five European white-fronts and five barnacles with them.

I saw three species I wouldn't normally expect in January:

Greenfinch - one on the feeders, a species I wouldn't normally expect until the big post-breeding flocks of finches arrive in late summer - the presence of feeders has dramatically increased the number of finches, tree sparrows and reed buntings overwintering at Druridge.

Shelduck - normally a February arrival (there were two on New Years Eve - not a species I would expect in December at all).

Stock Dove - Two on the Budge fields - again a February/March bird

My other year-tick today was little owl - thanks to Dave Elliott for the tip-off

From the Budge screen, I picked up a very large (must have been female) peregrine sat on a fencepost beyond the Haul Road way over towards Low Chibburn Farm. The drake scaup was still on the big pool.

My year list now stands at 86 species and 99 points for the Patchwork Challenge.

From the north

The wind came right out of the north on Friday and through to today, bringing a blast of  proper winter weather after a spell of unseasonably mild weather of late.

The northerly had come from way up north - classic weather to bring some northern specialities down, so obviously a seawatch was in order.

I timed my seawatch with the rising tide, giving me more chance to get some good waders pushed off the rocks by the advancing tide. It was bitterly cold, but as the wind had swung around out of the NNW I managed to find a little shelter in the dunes.

No sooner had I set up my scope when I had the first of many little auks headed north. There was a steady passage of these fantastic little birds throughout the morning. Mostly in small groups, all headed north. Many were very close in, flying between the breaking waves on the shore. At one point I had a 'mixed flock' of two purple sandpipers, two dunlin and two little auk flying up the shore.

It was great to get purple sandpiper on the list for the year, the light was nice so they really stood out from the dunlin.

Other highlights were two great northern divers (sadly no black-throated passed me), an adult little gull flying south, two groups of three long-tailed duck, two velvet scoter and a drake scaup. A flock of 25 twite flew north along the dunes.

Seawatching totals 1120-1250:

little auk 173
goldeneye 24
cormorant 2
little gull 1 (S)
guillemot 34
red-throated diver 3
dunlin 6
long-tailed duck 6
wigeon 49
red-breasted merganser 3
great northern diver 2
pale-bellied brent 3
velvet scoter 2
purple sandpiper 4
kittiwake 80+
common gull 10+
scaup 1
pintail 1
twite 25

Today I had to work, but popped down to Druridge for the last of the light at 3pm. I intended on doing a seawatch but the light was nice and there was some close-by gulls so I did some gull photography instead.

Between gulls I did note long strings of kittiwakes  headed north and some sizeable stings of guillemot. There were a few little auks, but nothing like yesterday and a couple of RTD.

Adult common gull

First-winter herring gull 

Arty gull photo

Second-winter great-black-backed gull. Check out the obvious white tip to the bill

Snowy sky over Cresswell - I'm pleased it missed me!

Nice wintry sky at dusk

Pink-footed geese coming in at sunset

 My seawatch brought me a little haul of year-ticks - brent goose, scaup and purple sandpiper (my first on the patch for six years!) taking my total to 159 which is well down on the last few years. Still a chance of one or two more species before New Year...

Feels like summer

Yesterday I spent pretty-much all of the daylight hours on the patch and what splendid daylight hours they were. Warm and sunny with light variable winds, it may have touched 20 degrees in the afternoon.

We were ringing for most of the day and it was so warm I was in a T-shirt for much of the afternoon...in November.

It was soon apparent that the influx of thrushes had quickly passed inland, no redwings or fieldfares to be seen. There were plenty of blackbirds and we ringed a single song thrush. Most of the blackbirds were continental birds, the adult females a nice grey colour and many with longer wings than our resident birds. Some of the blackbirds were carrying a lot of fat - they were on the move.

As well as blackbirds we caught a lot of goldfinches and siskins which are taking advantage the abundance of seeds this year. The siskins are especially liking the alder cones.

We caught a single brambling, a nice first-year male. This is the first brambling we have caught since 2006 at Druridge.

Brambling

We caught 95 birds of 17 species by the end of the day. The increase in the population of tree sparrows in the area around Druridge and generally in Northumberland means we are catching more of these beautiful birds.

Tree sparrow

Also of note was a late chiffchaff, not a 'sibe' this one, a typical yellowy-green collybita. It was also carrying a lot of fat, it weighed over 11g.

We also caught a female chaffinch that we ringed way back in August 2009 in its first year, odd that we haven't caught between then and now. Six and-a-bit is a good age for a chaffinch.

Early in the morning we watched a short-eared owl being mobbed by passerines over the Budge fields. In the afternoon a peregrine passed through and a large female sparrowhawk was seen chasing blackbirds through the bushes.

 A brief seawatch after the nets had been put away produced two drake velvet scoter on the sea and a handful of red-throated divers.

February has started well

Re-roofing my outhouse has prevented any birding trips to the patch of late, so with the wind too strong to work up the ladder today and frost preventing any mortar-work, I took the opportunity to get down to Druridge.

And...it was bloody freezing! Nice and sunny, but the strong northerly wind, coming straight from the Arctic, made it feel very cold indeed.

The well-stocked feeders that are around the hides attracted a decent crowd of chaffinches, goldfinches and greenfinches, I am predicting a brambling in the next week or so and hopefully some redpolls.

Looking out through the gaps in the Budge screen, straight into the biting northerly, brought tears to my eyes, it was nitheringly cold, so I didn't stop there long. Just enough time to make sure there were no pintail or other interesting ducks. We walked back through the bushes flushing a woodcock as we went.

Choppington's second-best wildlife guide was out and tipped us off that there nowt of note on the big pool, so we just checked it from the bushes - he was right.

So to the dunes, for a look on the sea. It was quite sheltered, hunkered down behind the dune ridge. The northerly has blown some little auks into the North Sea and one of them was the first bird I saw, headed north, quite close in. Several more were noted in the half -hour we spent watching. A good year-bird on the 2105 list.

Also on the sea was a great-crested grebe and a smashing drake velvet scoter with four common scoter.

We retreated to the Drift Cafe for a warming lunch.

63 little auk

64 great-crested grebe

65 velvet scoter

66 red-breasted merganser

67 kittiwake

PWC Score 77

Risky strategy paid off

As reports came in of a Fea's Petrel being tracked up the north-east coast this afternoon, I got twitchy and had to make a tricky decision. Do I go to a good seawatching spot such as Newbiggin or Snab Point and give myself a better chance of connecting with a lifer, or do I stay loyal to the patch and hope I can see it there.

I decided to go to Druridge. To be honest, the decision was easily made but I was aware that it was a risk. When I set off the bird had only just gone past Seaham, so I had plenty of time.

Not long after I was set up I had an unexpected bonus, an adult Sabine's gull was flying around offshore, about half-way to the pot flags, I watched if for a good three minutes as it zigzagged in a generally southerly direction, before it flew south-east into the gloom. I tipped off Neil and Tom and Snab. 

A few minutes later, what I presume was the same bird, an adults Sabs, flew north, again not very far out at all. A fantastic start and only my second ever patch Sabine's gull, the first was back in 2009.

I was joined on the dune by Alan Hall, as news came through of the Fea's northerly passage. A risky strategy for Alan too. So news in came in from Newbiggin and shortly after from Tom and Janet at Snab. What seemed like an age passed, and then two manx shearwaters came through, as I watched them, I saw another bird bank and tower quite high with a different jizz all together. It looked quite a bit bigger, the dark, almost black wings, looked really obvious when it banked and turned - it did this twice before dropping down. I was struggling to get Alan onto it though, there were too many black and double-black flags (we should have been more organised with hindsight and made sure we were on the same flags).

I lost it behind a wave and couldn't re-find it after re-positioning my scope.

I was gutted for Alan, but delighted to have seen it myself. These 'tracked' seabirds certainly get the adrenaline going.

It was followed by a sooty shearwater, the first of five that I saw. I continued to seawatch until after six o'clock but it had really tailed off after five.

Red-throated diver 4S, 3N

Sabine's Gull one adult southeast then north

Pale-bellied brent 4N

Manx Shearwater 8N

Fea's Petrel (1620ish) N

Sooty Shearwater 5N

Bonxie 1N

Arctic Skua 1N

Velvet Scoter 1 drake with flock, 1S with smaller flock

Dark-bellied Brent 5N

GC Grebe 1N

harbour porpoise 2

So Fea's takes the patch list to 236

I took Friday off work as it looked like the easterly winds were going to end. I had planned to ring from first thing, but the heavy, almost drizzle-like, fog persisted until mid-morning. I tramped the bushes, but it felt very quiet, almost as if there had been overnight clear-out. Pied flycatcher was all of note. 

I put some nets up by 11am, but only caught 12 birds. Hardly worth the effort.

158 grey wagtail

159 Sabine's Gull

160 FEA'S PETREL

161 sooty shearwater

PWC Score 247

Ringing, WeBS and Scoters

I've been away with work, neglecting the patch somewhat.

When I have been to Druridge, I've been keeping any eye on the scoter flock that is loitering in the Bay. My theory is that there is a regular turn-over of birds, last weeks c450 birds might not be there today amongst the 600+. The presence/absence of velvet scoters shows this. There were two flocks tonight, about 450-500 off the patch and about another 200 well north off the T junction at Hadston.

The scoter flock today

linnet

I had a little seawatch on Thursday evening as the northerly wind felt good. About 40 manx shearwaters moved through, two arctic skuas, three roseate terns and an adult med gull where the highlights. Three spoonbill and a little egret were still on the Budge fields.

On Saturday I was ringing. It was quiet, I only caught 16 new birds and five retraps, mostly juveniles.

Ringing totals were (retraps in brackets)

wren 1 (3)
blackcap 5 (1)
willow warbler 1
dunnock 1
magpie 1 (juvenile)
great tit 1
blue tit 1 (1)
chiffchaff 1
reed warbler 1
coal tit 2
chaffinch 1

A single spoonbill loitered on the Budge fields and a family of stonechats were in the bushes in the dunes. A quick evening visit produced a little ringed plover on the Budge fields with two ringed plover, three whimbrel and a single spoonbill.

One of three juvenile stonechat in the dunes

Today was WeBS count day. It's difficult to count birds on the Budge fields when the rush and grass cover is so high, but I did my best. There were very few waders compared to recent days - a single common sandpiper on the big pool was all of note. What was interesting was two female/juvenile goldeneye, I've been through my records and I've never had a July (or August for that matter) goldeneye at Druridge. A great-crested grebe was also of note.

great crested grebe in silvery light

common tern on the big pool

Offshore, there was a single velvet scoter with the scoter flock and at least three roseate terns.